This invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the position of a stacker wheel used in a machine for dispensing media such as currency, notes, and the like, so as to receive media which are asynchronously fed thereto without jamming or malfunction.
Currency or note dispensing machines, commonly called automated teller machines, include magazines for storing notes or bills of different denominations. An authorized user or customer of the machine may request a monetary amount from the machine, and in response thereto, the machine dispenses the correct number of notes, including notes of different denominations, when necessary.
In some of these machines, the notes requested are stacked or placed in a neat pile prior to being made accessible to the customer. Such stacking may be effected by a stacker wheel.
A stacker wheel is a generally-cylindrically-shaped wheel which has a plurality of spaced, finger ends around the periphery thereof, with adjacent finger ends defining the limits of a compartment formed therebetween. The notes to be dispensed coming from the various magazines are inserted successively into these compartments from an adjacent loading station as the stacker wheel is rotated. A stationary pick-off member, which is displaced circumferentially from the loading station, is used to separate the notes from the stacker wheel and thereby stack them in a neat pile prior to being made accessible to a customer.
When the notes which are picked from the different magazines of the dispensing machine arrive at a loading station associated with the stacker wheel, they generally arrive there asynchronously. With this type of arrival, it is likely that an arriving note will hit one of the finger ends instead of being inserted into a compartment without hitting one of the finger ends.
When an arriving note hits one of the finger ends of the rotating stacker wheel, the following malfunctions may occur:
1. The stacker wheel and associated mechanisms may become jammed. PA1 2. The note being fed may become torn or disfigured. PA1 3. The notes being fed may not actually be dispensed to a customer. PA1 4. Various combinations of the above malfunctions may occur.